Microsoft to unbundle Teams from Office in bid to allay EU antitrust concerns

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A Microsoft logo is seen in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris

A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes Acquire Licensing Rights

BRUSSELS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) will unbundle its chat and video app Teams from its Office product and make it easier for rival products to work with its software, the U.S. company said on Thursday in a move aimed at staving off a possible EU antitrust fine.

The proposed changes came after a month after the European Commission launched an investigation into Microsoft's tying of Office and Teams following a complaint by Salesforce-owned (CRM.N) workspace messaging app Slack in 2020.

Microsoft's preliminary concessions failed to address concerns.

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sharon Singleton

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An agenda-setting and market-moving journalist, Foo Yun Chee is a 20-year veteran at Reuters. Her stories on high profile mergers have pushed up the European telecoms index, lifted companies' shares and helped investors decide on their move. Her knowledge and experience of European antitrust laws and developments helped her broke stories on Microsoft, Google, Amazon, numerous market-moving mergers and antitrust investigations. She has previously reported on Greek politics and companies, when Greece's entry into the eurozone meant it punched above its weight on the international stage, as well as Dutch corporate giants and the quirks of Dutch society and culture that never fail to charm readers.

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